New Forests looking to purchase

Australian forestry company New Forests has a war chest of up to $500 million
set aside for investing in New Zealand forestry.

Managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Mark Rogers, said the money
had been recently raised from mainly European investors.

"We raised $873 million and we need to spend a big slab of it here, at least
$400-500m for trees and infrastructure, but not trucking and harvesting
because the locals to do that."

"Pre-election we were thinking it might be quite difficult [to operate] but post-
election it's clear both sides understand that if foreign capital dried up in
forestry, New Zealand would have a smaller sector."

The Forest Owners Association said the Government would be keen to tap into
these funds as well as other overseas investment for forestry, partly for
environmental reasons.

"My understanding is that the new Government's intention to see a billion trees
planted in the next ten years was largely reasoned on plantation forestry being
the only immediate and available tool to reduce New Zealand's net greenhouse
gas emissions to a level anywhere near Paris Agreement commitments,"
Association president Peter Clark said.

The Government has attached a rider to its policy on forestry investment to the
effect companies need to develop local processing.

Rogers said besides having invested in forests, New Forests already owned a
mill in Blenheim employing about 85, and was investing $10-15m into that in
order to bring it up to scratch.